Editorial: The state of the industry

by Garrett, 2001-07-26

 

The following is just my personal opinion and does not necessarily represent thw opinion of RPGDot:

After I read the interview with Sir Tech's Ian Currie on DTF today, I have to admit, I was truly shocked. I had no idea, the situation over at Sir Tech is that grief. Wizardry 8 finished, but unpublished with Sir Tech gone...what a truly horrible vision and infamous end for one of the best RPG series of all times.

The PC gaming industry is sick, very sick and needs healing immediately or we will see a glorious collapse and only console games only from a few years on...

What has begun as a step by step downfall some years ago can soon become an unstoppable avalanche: Less and less publisher, even less developers and only very popular titles and their clones being produced - and in the end there's just a very few publishers controlling the market!

There are but a very few lights at the end of this never ending tunnel, like Arkane Studios/Fishtank's Arx Fatalis or Silverstyle/JoWood's Gorasul, to mention two for now.

But then again, there is this excellent RPG from Germany called Gothic, rated by many the best RPG they ever played and at least among my all time top 10 games - and Piranha Bytes is having heavy problems in finding an international publisher...

Other examples needed? For the past couple of years, I heard, that Interplay is reporting losses only each year! I always wondered, how they can survive...now BIS, their subsidiary has cancelled TORN and layed off some staff - after TORN has been introduced in March only and been presented at E3 as BIS' new flagship...

Want even more? 3DO has reported financial trouble and Origin has been dismantled already months ago...

There is not passing a month, where there's no news about a title having been cancelled or a campany closing its doors!

I really do miss the good ole times, when there were more independent developers and a lot of publishers were around...

With the 3 greatest RPG series so far coming to an end or already done (Ultima, Wizardry and Might & Magic), it is time for new heroes to arise in the market.

I very much hope, that for example Raphael Colantonio, Lead Designer of Arx Fatalis and Arkane Studios can become one of them!

It now is the time for publishers not to take a look at how much a title will earn them, but also to renew, to refresh, to heal the PC industry by releasing inspired titles and not just RTS, FPS or clones of those!

Now, if only Project EGO was released for PC as well...

If you feel like contributing to my thoughts, please use our comments system or our boards rather than mail bombing me - thank you :)